Moreland's book Love Your God with All Your Mind probably changed the course of my life. It was that book that led me to seminary, and then to doctoral work in philosophy. He is a lucid writer, a fiery activist, and a keen intellect. A little corny, though.

Inference to the Favored Explanation (IFE)

IBE (Inference to the Best Explanation) is a standard move for conservative Christians who seek to defend certain claims.

The Design Argument for God's existence is just such a case. Look at all the initial conditions required for a life-producing and life-supporting universe. Their concurrence is astronomically improbable. Best explanation? Divine monkey business.

Certain ID arguments are also of this sort. Look at the irreducible complexity of molecular machines. Best explanation? Chance and natural selection or divine design? Design is more plausible if you don't already have anti-theistic prejudices. I'm in favor of both of these arguments.

BUT WAIT!!!

What about the fossil record? Look at how all our fossil evidence seems to fall into a nice branching-type pattern, showing the relationships between various species. Best explanation? Hmmm. Assuming the evidence does in fact appear this way (and honest, expertly-trained scientists believe it does), then IBE seems to demand prima facie assent to evolution.

The alternative? IFE. I don't want to be guilty of that. I'm just trying to be honest in my search for truth.

Sit on this

JP Moreland on Answered Prayer

A scholar and a true Christian. There aren't many men or women of whom I could use both descriptions. JP Moreland is one.

In this blog post, JP does two things for us: first, he tells us how to recognize answered prayer; second, he encourages us to keep record of our requests and answers as a sort of "ebenezer." Of course, the assumption (gulp) is that we are actually praying on occassion.

It's a great read. While you're there, you should check out other posts on that blog -- it's a group blog by some profs at Biola/Talbot.